304 LAMARCK, HIS LIFE AND WORK 



to those which have given origin to these new indi- 

 viduals. 



" These are the two fundamental truths which can 

 be misunderstood only by those who have never 

 observed or followed nature in its operations, or only 

 by those who allow themselves to fall into the error 

 which I have combated. 



" Naturalists having observed that the forms of the 

 parts of animals compared with the uses of these 

 parts are always in perfect accord, have thought that 

 the forms and conditions of parts have caused the 

 function ; but this is a mistake, for it is easy to 

 demonstrate by observation that it is, on the contrary, 

 the needs and uses of organs which have developed 

 these same parts, which have even given origin to 

 them where they did not exist, and which conse- 

 quently have given rise to the condition in which we 

 observe them in each animal. 



" If this were not so, it would have been necessary 

 for nature to have created for the parts of animals as 

 many forms as the diversity of circumstances in which 

 they have to live had required, and that these forms 

 and also the circumstances had never varied. 



" This is certainly not the existing order of things, 

 and if it were really such, we should not have the 

 race-horses of England ; we should not have our great 

 draft horses, so clumsy and so different from the first 

 named, for nature herself has not produced their 

 like ; we should not, for the same reason, have terrier 

 dogs with bow legs, greyhounds so swift in running, 

 water-spaniels, etc. ; we should not have tailless fowls, 

 fantail pigeons, etc. ; finally, we could cultivate the 

 wild plants as much as we pleased in the rich and 

 fertile soil of our gardens without fearing to see them 

 change by long culture. 



" For a long time we have felt the force of the 

 saying which has passed into the well-known proverb — 

 habits form a second nature. 



